Interview with Kenneth Henry Wilson

British officer served as pilot with 620 Sqdn, No 38 Group, RAF in GB, 1944-1945

REEL 1 Background in Balham and Surbiton, GB, 1922-1938: family; education. Aspects of period as employee with Hawker Aircraft Coy in GB, 1938-1942: obtaining employment with Hawkers Aircraft Ltd; nature of employment from 1938; reaction to declaration of Second World War, 3/9/1939; reasons for initial failure to volunteer for service with Royal Air Force; experience of German Air Force attacks on Hawker Aircraft Ltd facilities at Kingston upon Thames and Brooklands. Recollections of flying training with Royal Air Force in GB and Canada, 1942-1944: opinion of Royal Air Force training; Royal Air Force morale and attending burial parties; nature of basic training; initial flying training in GB; voyage from GB to Canada; train journey to RCAF Moncton; near accident when flying Fleet Finch at No 17 Elementary Flying Training School, RCAF at RCAF Stanley, Nova Scotia; character of Canadian flying instructors. REEL 2 Continues: flying conditions in Canada; relations with civilians; story of forced landing an Avro Anson at Lakeburn during solo night flight; attending general reconnaissance course at No 31 General Reconnaissance School, RCAF at RCAF Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; preference for operating with Bomber Command, RAF; operational training on Lockheed Hudson at No 31 Operational Training Unit, RCAF at RCAF Debert; reaction to posting to RCAF Dorval for ferry work with Ferry Command across North Atlantic; return to GB; selection for training to drop paratroops and agents into occupied Europe; opinion of Armstrong Whitworth Whitley; opinion of Short Stirling; posting to 620 Sqdn. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as pilot with 620 Sqdn, No 38 Group, RAF in GB, 1944-1945: joining squadron at RAF Fairford during middle of Operation Market Garden, 9/1944; first trip to Netherlands; nature of operations to drop Special Operations Executive and Special Air Service personnel into eastern France, 9/1944; use of Rebecca-Eureka navigational system; air-dropping of supplies; move to RAF Great Dunmow; living conditions at RAF Great Dunmow, 10/1944; story of a haunted Nissen hut at RAF Great Dunmow, late 1944; opinion of Rebecca-Eureka navigational system; opinion of bravery of Special Operations Executive personnel; participation in occasional bombing raids in eastern France. REEL 4 Continues: problems experienced in storm over the French Alps; nature of operations to drop Special Operations Executive personnel in Norway; problems with aircraft engines in cold conditions during operations to Norway; occasion when he was tailed by German Air Force aircraft off coast of Denmark; landing troops in Norway after VE Day, 8/5/1945; story of 'Babs the Browning' reacquired in Oslo, Norway, 5/1945; posting to Palestine, 1945; attitude to having served with Royal Air Force during Second World War; operations during Operation Varsity, the crossing of the River Rhine, Germany, 24/3/1945.